Pilot for privatized schools includes Trenton

Martin Griff / The Times of TrentonFILE PHOTO: Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Mercer) listens as National Action Network's Rev. Al Sharpton speaks at Shiloh Baptist Church in Trenton at the beginning a panel discussion: "Fighting Attacks on the Working Family" on Tuesday, April 26, 2011. Martin Griff / The Times of Trenton.

TRENTON — Private companies would be allowed to build and manage up to a dozen public schools in Trenton, Newark and Camden under a pilot program that is expected to go before state legislators for votes on Monday.

Supporters of Trenton’s inclusion in the bill said it could reinvigorate a program of new school construction that has flagged since the state Schools Development Authority trimmed its project list and canceled plans to build a new Trenton Central High School or renovate the school, while skeptics expressed concern about the privatization of public education.

“The capital city needs as much investment and opportunity in the state of New Jersey as we can possibly give it,” said Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing), who pushed for Trenton’s inclusion. “Since the legislation involves new construction, it might be an opportunity to do what the Schools Development Authority has failed to do: get a school built in Trenton.”

The bill would allow nonprofits to apply to the state Department of Education to build and operate a “renaissance school project.” They must demonstrate experience working in a high-risk, low-income urban district like Trenton. Up to four projects would be allowed per district.

Those nonprofit groups would be free to contract with businesses to purchase land, construct facilities or manage the schools. They would not be required to follow public bidding laws to select contractors.

Trenton school board president Toby Sanders said he was suspicious of the legislation and of Trenton’s last-minute inclusion.

“I think the legislation was designed for Camden to benefit particular financial interests,” Sanders said Friday. “It wasn’t designed with us in mind. Trenton wasn’t even on the list until yesterday. How can you tell me this was done with Trenton in mind?”

The state Senate and Assembly are expected to vote on the Urban Hope Act on Monday, the last day of their lame duck sessions. Trenton was inserted Thursday after Jersey City was taken out, due to a lack of interest from that city’s lawmakers and community groups.

The Schools Development Authority finances and oversees school construction projects in New Jersey’s poorest municipalities, and has built a number of new schools in Trenton. However, Gov. Chris Christie froze its work after he took office and a revamped SDA last year said it was sharply trimming down its project list from 51 to 10, none of them in Mercer County.

Among the projects put in indefinite limbo was the $150 million Trenton Central High project. The project has been repeatedly postponed over state funding problems or preservationists’ efforts to prevent the iconic school building from being demolished.

Trenton’s inclusion appeared to catch some people by surprise. Sen. Shirley Turner (D-Lawrence) said the legislation went through budget and appropriations committees rather than education committees, as such proposals usually would. She said she is still trying to read up on the bill.

“I haven’t been able to get to the bottom of all of the details, and the devil is in the details,” said Turner, who serves on the Senate education committee.

She said she has been hearing from educators who are apprehensive about the legislation, and said it was “unfortunate” they were not informed about the bill in advance. Turner said the “one good thing” about the law is that it would require local school board approval of any new renaissance school, which she called an improvement over charter school approvals.

“We have had abominable failures with charter schools, and the state hasn’t provided the proper oversight,” she said. “If (renaissance schools are) going to take place, they’re going to have to be regulated and receive proper oversight like the regular public schools.”

Turner and Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Trenton) said they have not yet decided how they will vote on the bills, though Gusciora said he was please that Watson Coleman had succeeded in having Trenton included.

“I have concerns about creeping privatization of public schools and it just has some long-term implications that I need to resolve,” Gusciora said. “I think that there are people out there that want to privatize public education.”